The Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities has gone bankrupt again and is not paying subsidies because by August 8, the sum of 23 million euros planned for the entire year for subsidies to employers who employ persons with disabilities had already been spent.
This was confirmed to "Vijesti" by the Fund, which operates within the Employment Agency. They announced that they had requested additional funds in the first half of the year because the number of people receiving disability certificates continued to increase. It was not stated how much additional money they requested, but according to data on the growth in the number of beneficiaries and the amount of reported earnings, as much as 15 million euros may be needed.
This Fund ran out of money for payments in 2023 and 2024 as the amounts grew faster than budget projections.
Over the past three years, "Vijesti" has published several articles pointing to the possibility of multi-million-dollar fraud and abuse of these subsidies, as the number of people with certificates of established disability has drastically increased, mostly from commissions in Berane and Rožaje, while there are also no legal restrictions on the amount of salary that their employer reports. The Fund can subsidize them up to 70 percent of the amount that their employer reports.
The amount increased from 2,7 to 33 million
Therefore, the amounts of these subsidies increase from year to year, and over the past seven years, the annual amount has increased from 2,7 to 33 million last year.
"Within the framework of the budget planning for 2025, and taking into account that the adoption of amendments to the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities was planned in the first half of the year, the estimated amount of funds for subsidies to employers who employ persons with disabilities was 23 million euros. However, as the proposed amendments to the law have not yet been adopted, and the number of requests for the right to wage subsidies has increased significantly, the available funds have been exhausted and are currently insufficient to cover all incoming obligations. Namely, by August 8, 2025, all funds provided for in the budget for this purpose were spent. Of the total planned 23 million euros, 19,15 million euros were spent in the period from January 1 to June 30," the Fund told "Vijesti".
Employers who do not employ persons with disabilities pay a fee (fine), and about eight million euros are collected annually, while the remaining part is provided from the state budget, as the state is the guarantor of these payments.
The amounts of wages reported by employers often exceed two thousand euros even for auxiliary workers, shopkeepers, caterers, etc., i.e. they are higher than the salaries of ministers and MPs.
User protest prevented the state from restoring order
Although subsidies last year amounted to around 33 million, the Government has included an item of 23 million in the budget this year, because it expected that the laws on professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities and on unified disability assessment would come into force at the beginning of this year and that this amount would be reduced due to new solutions. These laws were supposed to limit the maximum amount of subsidies per employee, as well as to introduce greater controls in the registration of these employees, as well as in determining their disability, and to review the previous solutions. All of these are solutions that exist in other countries.
A group of non-governmental organizations of people with disabilities, many of whom are employers and beneficiaries of these subsidies, organized a protest in front of the Ministry at the end of March this year, when the draft law was supposed to go into procedure, threatening to spend the night there, after which the Ministry withdrew its proposals. Now the draft laws are back in procedure, but without the main solutions on limiting the amount of the subsidy, without the norm of mandatory review of previous solutions, and without the norm that the employer proves that the person for whom the subsidy is received is actually working and fulfilling the required work tasks.
As "Vijesti" previously wrote, some employers and people with disabilities noticed a legal gap four or five years ago, namely that there were no controls and that there was no limit on the amount of reported earnings for which they receive subsidies. Since then, the number of people with disabilities has increased manifold, as has the amount of earnings for which they are reported and for which they receive subsidies, regardless of their professional qualifications and job position.
For example, last year, a person from Berane, who has a disability certificate and is a cook by profession, was reported to have a salary of 2.700 euros, which is subsidized by the state for her employer. In that city, the salary of an auto parts salesman who was reported to have a salary of 2.400 euros is also subsidized. His salary at the time was 600 euros higher than the salary of the prime minister.
A worker with a disability from Berane, whose occupation is “wood cutting and processing,” also has a salary higher than the example of 2.083 euros. An auxiliary worker from Rožaje, whose salary is subsidized by the state, is reported to have a salary of 1.809 euros, or 300 euros more than the Minister of Labor. Naide Nišić, whose job is to oversee the work of this Fund and prepare a law that should prevent these abuses.
More than 5.000 orders are waiting for payment, with over 500 new ones being processed.
As of September 30, 2025, according to data from the Fund, 3.551 employers are entitled to wage subsidies for a total of 5.694 employed persons with disabilities.
Before people with disabilities and employers realized that nothing was regulated and that it was ideal for abuse, wage subsidies were paid to 660 people with disabilities in 2018. At that time, the annual subsidy amount was 2,7 million euros.
However, according to the Fund, these figures continue to increase.
"In the period from August to the end of September, more than 5.000 orders for the payment of wage subsidies were created, which have not yet been implemented due to a lack of funds. All orders have been properly processed and are in the payment procedure, and will be paid to beneficiaries as soon as additional funds are provided. Also, 308 new requests for the right to a subsidy are currently being processed, while an additional 200 are awaiting the completion of documentation by employers," the Fund announced.
They indicate that the Employment Agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, "is taking intensive measures to secure additional funds, which will enable the continued smooth functioning of the subsidy system and the fulfillment of obligations towards employers by the end of the current year."
"We emphasize that the Fund's goal is to pay all beneficiaries without delay, as soon as the budget funds are operational. We are aware of the importance of these subsidies, not only for employers, but also for creating a more inclusive and fairer labor market, therefore we remain committed to supporting the employment of persons with disabilities and strengthening their economic and social inclusion. These beliefs are also shared by the line ministries, therefore we expect that technical difficulties will be overcome as soon as possible and that smooth financing of this type of obligation will be ensured," the Fund stated.
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